Saturday, May 27, 2006

John Slobod, Maine Luthier

John Slobod—luthier and proprietor of Casco-based Circa Guitars—gets profiled in the July issue of Acoustic Guitar

Circa guitars have caught the attention of great players like Tony McManus and Steve Baughman, and Slobod is eager for their input. “It’s important to work with good players,” he says. “Whenever I go to a bluegrass event or a fingerstyle event, I take a guitar down and ask for opinions. ‘Do you like the neck shape, the tone, the string spacing? What’s working and what isn’t?’” He also relies on feedback from retailers, who see customers on a daily basis and know about market trends.

Today Slobod continues to work part-time for Bourgeois and also builds five to ten Circa guitars per year. His waiting list is eight to ten months long, and he intends to increase annual production to 25 Circa guitars over the next year or so. [Link]